Ko chooses Queenstown caddy

A.J. Hackett Bungy sales manager Regan Pearce takes a hurdle during the 2012 Drag Race at Earnslaw Park, part of the Queenstown Winter Festival. Pearce's next challenge will be caddying for the world's top women's amateur golfer, Lydia Ko, at the New Zealand PGA Championship at The Hills next month. Photo by Tracey Roxburgh.

A Queenstown personality will caddy for the world's top women's amateur golfer at the New Zealand PGA Championship next month.

Fifteen-year-old Lydia Ko - who at the weekend became the first New Zealander to win the New Zealand Women's Golf Open - has chosen A. J. Hackett Bungy sales manager Regan Pearce.

Pearce, who captained the victorious Wakatipu Premiers rugby team last year, said the invitation came after they met during last year's inaugural championship at The Hills, near Arrowtown.

''She came out to the Kawarau bridge to do a bungy jump and I hosted her,'' Pearce said.

''After the tournament, I said, 'Look, if you ever need anyone to carry the bag for you, I would love to do it'.''

Lydia Ko and her caddie, Guy Wilson, at last year's NZ PGA at The Hills. Photo supplied.

Pearce, a former sales representative for Queenstown Times, said when an invitation came from Ko's mother, Tina, two months ago, he thought a work colleague was playing a joke on him.

Once he found out it was true, ''I was extremely humbled''.

''It's not every day you get to caddy for someone of her calibre. This could be a career change for me.''

Pearce said he enjoyed his golf but admitted he was a novice caddy.

The Women's Open win was Ko's third professional victory following her success in last year's New South Wales Open and Canadian Open.

- Philip Chandler of Mountain Scene.

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